


You can hear it in the silence

by fazcinatingreads



Category: Australian Rules Football RPF
Genre: AFL, Environment, Gen, Science, Sewerage, Water, australian rules football, environmental science, footballer, laboratory, poo sample, scientist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29239251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fazcinatingreads/pseuds/fazcinatingreads
Summary: Former AFLM footballer Alex Fasolo is employed by Melbourne Water to do the thankless task of collecting poo samples from the sewer to test how many drugs people in Melbourne have consumed.





	You can hear it in the silence

Knees in the dirt, sweat sliding down his back, Alex Fasolo unscrewed the test tube. Grimacing at the dirt caked under his fingernails, he held the tube in the brown sludge that poured out of the sewers.

After gathering enough to fill the 100mL tube, he dragged his arm from the sludgy river of sewage and screwed the cap on the tube, placing it in his tool belt.

Alex stood up and shook out his arm, watching the sludge slide off his smooth tanned arm, then attempted to scrape the dirt from his fingernails. This wasn't like him at all, he was a stickler for cleanliness during his football career. The nail inspections before games were always a proud moment for him.

When he arrived back at the lab, he placed the new tube with the others on his lab bench and took a deep breath of the fresh air coming from the air conditioner.

Alex grabbed his wallet and headed back outside, this time going across the road to the café that had the best coffees in Melbourne.

"Hey, I'll have a double espresso with almond milk and..." Alex said, his eyes trailing over the desserts in the cabinet, "And a cappucino skim milk half-sugar." He tore his gaze away from the desserts cabinet, wiping drool off his mouth.

The barista started making his drinks and Alex checked his phone, scrolling through twitter to see the latest news updates. Between the tweets about zero covid cases and the delicious nutella donut sitting delectably in the cabinet, he couldn't resist any more.

"Could I have a nutella donut as well?" Alex asked the waitress behind the counter.

"Sure," she said, picking up some tongs and placing a donut in a paper bag. She handed the bag to Alex.

When the coffees were ready, Alex paid for everything and headed out, holding a coffee in each hand and balancing the donut between them.

He arrived back at work and went up to the cute girl's desk. "For you, m'dear," he said with a flourish and juggled his items around awkwardly while she watched on amused.

Finally he got his coffee and donut in one hand, and presented the cappucino to the girl.

"Half sugar?" she said, before taking a tentative sip.

"I know your coffee order," Alex said, smiling coyly and headed through to the laboratory. 

As he wolfed down his donut, careful not to get any powdered sugar near the test tubes, Alex felt satisfied at a good day's work and was ready to sample some poo. Funny what a simple act of buying someone coffee could do.


End file.
